Study shows Russian and Canadian winter days much milder

OSLO (Reuters) - The coldest winter days in Russia and
Canada have become up to 4 Celsius (7 Fahrenheit) milder since
the 1950s in an extreme sign of climate change, the British
Meteorological Office said on Wednesday.

A study of daily minimum and maximum temperatures said that
a trend towards warmer nights and hotter days was set to bring
more heatwaves and shifts in crop growing seasons.

"Minimum temperatures have seen the biggest increases, most
notably over Russia and Canada, where the coldest days are now
up to 4 Celsius warmer than they were in the middle of the 20th
century," the Met Office's Hadley Centre said.

A statement by the Centre also said that the largest
changes in maximum temperatures were "found across Canada and
Eurasia where they had typically warmed by 1 to 3 Celsius." In
Britain, warming was between 0.5 and 2.0 Celsius.

The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical
Research, showed that "some extreme events are already
increasing," said Simon Brown, Met Office climate scientist.

"The trend is set to continue with our changing climate
having a significant impact, with warmer nights and hotter days
in future," he said.

Last year, the U.N. Climate Panel projected a "best
estimate" that world temperatures would rise by between 1.8 and
4.0 Celsius by 2100 because of a build-up of greenhouse gases,
after a rise of 0.7 Celsius in the 20th century.

A heatwave in Europe in summer 2003 caused between 22,000
and 35,000 heat-related deaths and almost $14 billion in
agricultural losses, the Met Office said.

But some experts say that warmer winters will bring
benefits such as falls in the number of deaths from extreme
cold.

Musing about the possible advantages of a warmer world,
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in 2002 that milder
winters might at least cut Russians' spending on fur coats.